Report: Mercedes SL and SLK will lose weight and use the same platform
Knocking off nearly 330 lbs off the SL’s weight and 220lbs off the SLK’s weight, Mercedes intends upon being somewhat ambitious with their next two convertible/coupes. For some this may feel like a cost cutting measure that either enhances the appeal of the SLK or detracts from the appeal of the SL. Either way, Mercedes is bent upon making both cars be a bit less overburdened thereby using their new Modular Sports Car Architecture. Both of these projects are pretty significant and the SL and SLK are not due out until 2021 and 2020, respectively.
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If we read between the lines a little bit, we find that both of these cars will use a platform that can easily be set up for all wheel drive and that Mercedes may capitalize on that capability, given that most other competitors are already doing so with their sports cars. As the power to weight ratio of the cars increase, the presence of 4Matic may not have anything to do with one’s kneejerk reaction to AWD: Snow. It may have quite a bit more to do with performance and advanced systems that help the driver use all available traction to stick the car out of the apex in the best possible manner. Whether or not the AWD system is part of the weight reduction calculations or not remains to be seen.
The base powerplant in the SL will likely be the existing 3 liter straight six, but the 4 cylinder 400 horsepower engine in the CLA could also happen. Given the current stable, it is also likely that there could be a 465 horsepower SLK AMG Black edition in the works as well.
-By: Sawyer Sutton
Source: MotorTrend